Modern washroom facilities, such as those found in commercial, industrial and residential facilities, provide automatically actuated flushing devices, fragrance dispensers, water controls, drying devices, door operators and hand soap dispensing devices. The purpose is to provide a sanitary and substantially germ free and odor free environment that eliminates the necessity of the user of the washroom facility touching any of the permanent fixtures of the washroom. In this regard, automatic liquid dispensers have been developed to automatically dispense a liquid soap solution into the hands of a user without requiring the user to touch the liquid dispenser structure. Examples of such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,467,651 and 6,651,851.
In presently marketed liquid dispenser devices, such as liquid soap dispensers and other liquid and fluid dispensers, a hub assembly extends upward from the countertop surface in which a sink and a water supply faucet are installed. A partially rotatable spout, or a non-rotatable spout, is attached to the hub assembly to convey liquid through the hub and spout, and to the user.
When an automatic fluid dispenser such as presently marketed is installed, the hub assembly connecting the spout to a pump and fluid source must specifically match the attachment configuration of the dispensing head or spout. Thus, when a new dispensing head of a different style or manufacturer, or of an updated model of the same manufacturer, is desired to be installed, a new hub assembly must be installed. Since the hub assembly in an automatic fluid dispensing system includes electronic sensing devices, replacement of the hub can be a difficult and expensive proposition, if possible at all.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a universal hub for an automatic fluid dispensing device, which hub can be adapted to work with only one or with a plurality of dispensing heads or spouts for the delivery of the fluid to a user. The present invention, in one example, contemplates a hub assembly for a dispensing head that can form an attachment with a plurality of fluid dispensing spout devices, either fixed or rotating top, that are supplied by various manufacturers. In the alternative, the present invention can be adapted to provide a unique pattern of attachment elements between a fluid dispenser hub assembly and a specific fluid dispensing head assembly such that only the fluid dispensing head of a specific manufacturer can be installed on the hub assembly.
A further object of the present invention is to provide universal hub embodiments that are suitable for attachment to a variety of partially rotatable and non-rotatable fluid dispensing heads.